What’s The Weight Loss Equation?

This past Saturday morning I drove to the gym and didn’t really feel like going in. I wasn’t in the mood to get sweaty and I kinda wanted to phone it in and get back home. I just didn’t feel “on”. But, I was there. I knew my body needed it and I decided to just get it over with. I am so glad I did. It ended up being an awesome workout. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it doesn’t. In this case, it was a song on my playlist that really spoke to me, motivated me and got me in the zone.

I was doing a circuit of weighted step-ups and flights of stairs when “Remember the Name” started blaring through my headphones:

I pushed through the workout. My strides suddenly became intense and purposeful. I got focused. I wiped the sweat off my hands and grabbed the weights tighter. I went faster. I worked harder. I thought about the lyrics.

“20% skill
80% fear”

I kept it on repeat for the duration of my workout. I thought about it the entire way home. I thought about my journey. I thought about the times I have thrown in the towel and the times I’ve picked myself up and dragged myself back on track. I thought about the differences between my past failures and my current determination. My jaw was set as I embraced a renewed determination to crush my goals. I’m not giving up. I’m not giving in. I’m going to crush my goals and I’m going to capture the essence of what has made this possible for me. What was the formula for all the past failures and what is my formula now? Its not 5% pleasure or 50% pain (usually), but what is it?

For all the years leading up to my transformation I feel like it looked like this:

70% planning the perfect regimen (over and over)
25% stressing and obsessing over it
5% doing the work

Seriously. I’d read and read and read. I’d commit to a super-strict plan that was BOUND to give me results. I mean, how could it not? It was flawless. Perfectly clean eating, daily workouts…it was the recipe for fat loss success. Except that it wasn’t. I couldn’t follow it. It made me crazy. It was someone else’s plan. It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t for me. It didn’t fit my lifestyle and honestly, at the time, it was biting off far more than I could chew. I’d spend most of my energy finding and understanding the plan. I’d spend the rest of my time worrying about how I’d make it work. And hardly any time DOING the work.

It DIDN’T work. In fact, it created this snowball effect of feeling not good enough, feeling ashamed, feeling embarrassed, feeling the need to hide and then feeding my feelings of insecurity (with cookies and ice cream and Mexican food). No lie. It was destructive. It hurt my self esteem and often led to weight GAIN.

My weight loss equation is drastically different now. Some people might say its 80% food, 10% exercise and 10% mindset. Some people might say its 50% diet and 50% exercise. I disagree with all of that. This is my equation for success – in life, in fitness, in weight loss and in work. It looks like this:

100%of: SHOW UP. BE CONSISTENT. LOVE YOURSELF.

show up. be present every day with the desire to improve.be consistent. don’t hop around from trend to trend and get distracted by what so-and-so is doing. do YOUR work and do it every day.love yourself right where you’re at. every day. love yourself on days you screw up. love yourself on days you do everything right. love yourself when you fit into your skinny jeans and love yourself when they won’t freaking button. love yourself when your face is puffy and love yourself when you start to see progress. love yourself when you crush your workout and love yourself when you decide to sleep in.

When you doubt yourself (and you will) – DIG IN. As Blaze says, DO THE WORK. Let your own uncertainty be the fire that fuels you. Does someone in your life not believe in you? Who gives a sh*t? Dig in. Prove it to yourself. Prove it to them. Don’t get down and dive into a bag of chips. Put on your sneakers and hit the road. With every bite of that clean meal you’re eating, imagine your body transforming. Imagine where you’re going. Imagine how you’ll feel as you achieve your dreams. 100%. Every day. There are no excuses except the ones you create and decide to believe. Hear me? THERE ARE NO EXCUSES EXCEPT THE ONES YOU CREATE AND DECIDE TO BELIEVE.

This cycle of being on track Monday-Thursday and totally off the rails Friday-Sunday won’t get you where you want to go. Beating yourself up every time you eat a treat is unhealthy and counterproductive. Feeling pressured to “work off” the food you eat doesn’t serve you. All those thoughts and behaviors are a waste of your very precious energy. Every day I do my best. Every day that looks different. Every day I wake up and commit to doing my best. To honoring my body and giving it what it needs. I am consistent. I don’t do this when I feel like it. I just do it. I do it because I love my body, not because I hate it.